The Use of Language

Today's lesson covered largely on the use of language and whole numbers. The use of language drew me to much thinking and learning tonight. I used to struggle a lot with problem sums, or story sums in primary school days. I often thought to myself if it's the teachers' way of tricking us into scoring less for our math tests or examinations. But as Dr. Yeap explained and elaborated more about the use of language and how it is incorporated into mathematical thinking, I realized that it is indeed not as easy as it seems. 

In primary schools, some children have difficulties adjusting because so much language is incorporated into the learning. And when children have language difficulties, they struggle with mathematics too. Today I learnt about the importance of using the right terms and words to create an addition story. 

Story 1:
John has 6 marbles. Johnny has 8 marbles. How many marbles do they have altogether?

Story 2: 
Mary bought 6 marbles. May bought 8 marbles. How many marbles did they buy altogether?

Some personal questions that I pondered over and pointers I considered:
* Do "has" and "buy" come with any prior knowledge or assumptions?
* Is there a a difference in meaning if I use either word?
* What implications do I have when I use "has" or when I use "bought"

The use of language really made me ponder because there is so much weight in the use of words when we teach young children. This links up to the second key learning I took back tonight. It is to rethink the practices and conventions used in teaching kindergarteners. Sometimes children pick up conventions from other platforms such as peers, adults and learning programs. It is definitely crucial for us, as early childhood educators to ensure that children pick up the right conventions and we need to first make sure we know the appropriate conventions used in our syllabus so that we can model for the children we teach.